Garrett Atkins Signing is Official

The O’s finally made the Atkins signing official. He signed a one year deal worth 4.5 million with a team option. If the Orioles decide to pick up his option for the 2011 season, Atkins will be paid 8.5.  Atkins also has 500,000 dollars worth of incentives in his contract.

"“We do feel like we have young kids at first and third,” said MacPhail. “Anyone that required a long-term commitment was something that wasn’t ideal for us. Here we had the opportunity, in our view, to take a little bit of a risk on a guy that was one of the game’s most productive hitters going into last season. We got the kind of right-handed bat we wanted on pretty much our terms, one plus an option. And it gives us the versatility to sort of gauge the first- and third-base market going out. The more we got into this, the more we learned about the potential cost for other options at first and third, the more attractive Garrett became.”Link- (click here)"

As I stated in the last post, I like this signing. He will be a short-term guy that can put a power bat in the lineup. Furthermore, although he isn’t a great fielder, he can play either first or third base. Atkins won’t be defensively good as Mora, but he should be a bigger upgrade with the bat. The signing should also start some competitive competition with Snyder and Bell, which is always a good thing.

On another note, the Orioles signed a 19 year old pitcher from Australia. So far not much news about him other then he went 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA with the Queensland Rams.  The 19 year old has been to Baltimore at least once before, as he represented the Australian team in the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen.